


A Drop of Water for a Dying Man in a Desert

by Seph_Ina



Series: Force Flames [3]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Dying Will Flames (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Extreme Loneliness, Gen, Padme, Rex - Freeform, ahsoka - Freeform, anakin - Freeform, mentions of Cody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:07:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23962069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seph_Ina/pseuds/Seph_Ina
Summary: In a universe where everything still goes wrong. Alone and in a desert, Obi-Wan thirsts.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Infinite Sadness
Series: Force Flames [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1557715
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	A Drop of Water for a Dying Man in a Desert

The two suns shine bright and hot on Tatooine. Their brilliance is even brighter in the desert where there is nothing but the endless sea of sand and the infinite blue sky.

There is no solace in the desert. Ben only has a threadbare brown cloak and his worn Jedi tunics as protection from the rays and the heat. His pale skin has turned red and raw from exposure to the sun. He needs to store up on that sun-protection cream Beru gave him. His throat heaves with great effort. It is very easy to get thirsty on this desert planet.

The walk to Mos Eisley is long and the desert taunts him with memories of a time long past. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue that reminds him of: blue eyes; one pair with a scar on the right, blue lightsabers, blue paint on white.

Blue like the stripes on the montrals of a girl far too young to fight, blue eyes like the sky, like innocence and hope, like the water in a thousand fountains.

Blue like water.

Blue like an ocean. Blue like the sky.

Like the sky.

The sky.

A lonely sky.

Ben walks through the wastes of Tatooine’s endless desert under the two suns’ guidance with nothing but an empty infinite sky, threadbare clothes, burned skin, a parched throat, and a deep-seated loneliness in his heart.

\----

The public market in Mos Eisley is a hustle and bustle of activity. He is easily swept up in the crowd of shoppers and pickpockets alike. He quickly locates the things he needs: some food to last for a few weeks, some needed parts for his vaporator, tea, a few bottles of alcohol, and a warmer cloak for Tatooine’s freezing nights. He has what he needs and he makes to leave. Then he sees them.

Shiny white armor.

Troopers.

But they are nothing like the troopers he knew for they were gold, blue, and all the colors that spill from a prism.

These troopers are blank.

And Ben’s heart aches, wallowing in his guilt and failures. The emptiness in him throbs.

He leaves before he is noticed.

But his mind thinks of gold.

_Gold paint on white, like the warmth of a fire. Friendship. Camaraderie. Millions men with golden skin and golden hearts._

_Golden eyes._

_…_

**_I HATE YOU!_ **

He trudges back to his hut in silence. The golden grains of sand mock him.

\----

He makes another attempt to fix his vaporator. His mind wanders and his hands move on their own. He’s brought out from his thoughts when he notices a red fluid dripping from his finger. He must have accidentally cut himself in his absentmindedness.

He searches for an antiseptic and bandages in his medicine kit. He tries not to look at his blood and think of red.

_Red like his Storm. Red like his heart. Red like the blood on his hands and the fires of Mustafar._

_Red is passion. Love. Grief. Suffering._

_Betrayal._

_It consumes everything until there is no more._

\----

Back when he was a padawan, a new Sky just then, his master was his anchor. His Rain. He soothed his pain and washed it away despite the fact that he was the cause of many of Ben’s grievances. He loved his master anyway.

Then he died.

He would have gone mad if it weren’t for Anakin. He was equal parts Storm and Sky: wide and open with a storm brewing in the distance, ready to strike.

Anakin would have gladly become his Storm and guardian.

Not that Ben would have let him. Not when Anakin deserved so much more.

Anakin was a Sky that was brilliant. Too brilliant. Ben had no right to claim him; to make him his Storm.

So instead they walked side by side. As Brothers. As Skies.

\----

He never noticed the darkness creeping upon them like a Mist. Not until it stole his Brother away and it was already too late.

And it also took not only his beloved Storm, but his Brother’s own Storm and Sun as well.

\----

Sometimes, Ben thinks about Padme. He thinks that despite her lack of Flames, her heart still fiercely burned with a love and passion for justice. If she were ever an active Flame user, she would have made for an amazing Rain: always calm, cool, and collected even in the face of danger.

She and Anakin would have made a frighteningly wonderful pair.

And in their son, he sees them.

He sees them in Luke when he tried to cajole a womprat into being his friend.

He sees them in Luke when he does his best to help out in the farm.

He sees them in Luke when he remorsefully apologizes for his own wrongdoing.

He sees them in Luke’s kindness, in his actions and deeds.

He sees them in Luke’s soul; a fire that burns like the Sky but tastes like Rain.

Luke is an Oasis in the desert.

One that Ben has no right to drink from.

\----

Qui-Gon is back, but it isn’t the same. Ben finds it funny how his form is blue like the Flames of his soul once upon a time. Despite all that, he cannot find nor reach the Flames of his former Rain.

His master looks at him with sadly and says, “I am dead, Obi-Wan. I cannot give you what you crave for.”

Typical Qui-Gon. As if that would explain anything.

“I see that the sands have not weathered your tongue, my dear apprentice.”

It has not. But his skin dries and cracks from the harsh weather.

\----

For many years he stays in the desert, a watchful guardian over the Lars’ farmstead. The days go by and the years quickly pass until Luke has grown into a young man yearning to fly among the stars like his father before him. Sometimes, Ben wishes that Luke would never have to face the hardships that the generation before him had faced. But Luke is a Skywalker. And you cannot hold them down.

The galaxy moves on and waits for no one. And in the many years that Ben has lived in the desert, not a single drop of water has fallen from its skies.

\----

_“Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”_

Leia is all and more than Ben had ever thought she would be. She is in many ways like Anakin and Padme all at once. Her eyes glint with fury and determination, despite the fact that she is the one begging for help. There is no clearer sign that she is a Storm; ready to fight and die for her cause.

Ben supposes that there is no better time than now to start moving. The winds are picking up with the makings of a great Hurricane that will most likely turn the galaxy on its head.

For the first time in many years, somewhere deep in the deserts of Tatooine, it rains.

**Author's Note:**

> Rain? On Tatooine? That's quite the miracle wouldn't you say?


End file.
